THURSDAY 11.7.02 DAY - 6 PART II

DAY 6 PART II- Jerez to – Granada

“Granaaaaadaaaaa…. I’m falling under your spell… and if you could speak… what a fascinating tale you would tellllll”….

Ok…Ok…. I promise not to sing through this note…if I can help it, but Granada is infectious. If only the ride into the fabled city after a fabulous trip from Jerez was as pleasant. The Spanish highways are in pretty good shape and we clipped along at 180kph when we weren’t on the winding two lane CV and N roads as opposed to the 4 lane supper highways. The Volvo hummed along [that’s if you really believe a Volvo can even carry a tune let alone hum.] There are some of our friends that drive those gems from the black forest that sneer at Volvo’s, but this new 60 diesel is a real Hottie with a front wheel drive that hugs the turns like a lover and kicks it up a notch in overdrive when asked to.

Crossing the mountains was exciting and the vistas were breathtaking. The photo Crazed Illy [the tables are now turned] may have gotten some great shots except for some the bouncing and quick swings on the narrow mountain roads. We also have some excellent shots of the interior of the cars roof, floorboard and or dashboard depending on the quick reflexes of Mario Anderetti III.

We had planned on stopping in Arcos de la Frontera but time was not on our side and I really didn’t want enter Granada at night as I had been told that some of the streets could be difficult as we got closer to the central section where our hotel was located. Guess what… it was night fall when we got there.

Of course, we even got excellent directions from a fellow where we gassed up [or dieseled up as it were]
“Via directo en esta calle al final, Esta calle es La Gran Via… Quando ustedes mira la Cathedral Grande, estarar en su direcho, la calle que estas buscando es en la izquerda”
[just go straight ahead on this road until the end, this is Gran Via, the Big cathedral is on your right…you cant miss it…it’s real big… and the street you are looking for will be on the left]


Yeah… Right… first he didn’t mention that the Cathedral was one block off the street he sent us down, “La Gran Via”, and you can’t see the Damn thing from there at night.
He also said “Al Final” [to the finish]… he neglected to mention that there was no finish… it just swung right at the Fountain in the Placa de la Catolicas [Plaza of the Catholic Monarchs… Ferdinand & Isabella] and wound through town to the other side of Granada near the convention center [sorry….El Palacio de los Congressos] and over another bridge heading back towards Sevilla.

Let the Oooooffing and Eeeking begin!!!!…. [And now we can add “Madre de Dios….Madre Mia…. And a few other Madres as well] The Cuban Lady was attempting to navigate us “white knuckle style” through the narrow streets, with the Kamakazie Moto Scooters whizzing past on both sides as we crept along the unfamiliar streets looking for something that resembled a small map or instructions.

That’s right dear hearts, we were lost again!!! Illy says it’s all planned that way so we get to see more of Spain then anticipated, including the Pirula’s. I don’t buy it! It would be so much nicer if we could just once trust the instructions on the sometimes “Anal” MapBlast Directions. In fact… had we come into Granada on the road it had suggested [of course we couldn’t find the exit it recommended…they haven’t yet to coordinate this with the Spanish DOT] some of the instructions might have made sense? As it was, one of the streets it would have had us go down near the hotel has since been made one way in the opposite direction soooooo… we would have been going in circles anyway….just not on THE OTHER BLOODY SIDE OF GRANADA!.

I spot a hotel on the opposite side of the street and perform a perfectly illegal maneuver [I think that’s REALLY what Pirula means] and pull up in the Valet area in front of the hotel to look at the pitiful map we had. Of course by now Wide Eyed Illy [those of you that know her well will recognize the look I mean] instructed me that all hotels have maps and I should get my @$#@#$% in there and find out where we were.
“Ahhhllll Beee Bahhhck” I bellowed in my best Ahhhrrnold impression, and duck into the hotel to get some first class instruction and a REAL map of Granada.
This would have been easy except the three clerks each trying to help in their own way, did have a minor disagreement about the accessibility of the hotel’s main access street at this time of night, something about a call box at the end of the street and a pop up gate… [We found out later that this part was true… they just had the location wrong.]

We headed back the way we came and after passing Ferdy and Izzy’s fountain again, I spot a little sign directing us to the Hotel AnaCapri. Of course we have blown past it by the time we realize what it said, and have to perform another Pirula and a couple of zig-zags and a once around the fountain again to come up on the right turn into an apparent alley…. [Lots of these streets resemble alleys] around the corner Zig-Zag again and… Bingo… there it was! [No not another Bingo Parlor like in Madrid but the Hotel AnaCapri!!]

We hurried to unload the bags into the lobby and after instructing us to go to our room with the bags first, the lovely desk clerk gave us great instructions to find the closest parking Garage. [Illy insists that we stress a this point, that most city center hotels DO NOT have parking facilities of their own….Hell… they are lucky to have space to pull up in front to unload bags].

We headed out to find the garage. This required a right at the Corner, a right on Gran Via, [again past Ferdy and Izzy’s fountain] a Right at the Bank España, a right behind the bank into another alley, across Gran Via at the light [don’t even ask why we couldn’t just turn left at the bank] a right at the big P sign, through yet another alley, another right into a wider alley and left down the ramp into the TIGHTEST underground parking garage I have ever squeezed into. 3 turns around the different levels and we found a fellow pulling out of a space we passed twice before. After warning off a Mercedes trying to bully us out of the spot, we squeezed into the tiny space [after first closing down the side mirrors] and we had the Volvo parked for the next two days…..Wheeewwwww!

A brisk walk back to the Hotel a quick unpack of the essentials and it was time to find SOME FOOD…[The Cuban lady was ready to gnaw my arm off if I didn’t feed her]

The desk clerk recommended a quaint place called “La Colina de Almanzora”. The instructions were a little sketchy but we figured we could ask along the way… [well it sounded like a good idea at the time.]

After a trek through the Placa Nuevo, we stopped no less than 4 times to ask directions. The last ones were to go up the stairs near the Iglesa Santa Ana, take a left and head down a questionable looking street…or rather up a pretty bumpy alley…. depending on your perspective, past an ancient Arab Baths and tea house [?!?!?]

Chuckie…. Barreling along at his usual gallop, shrugs off a polite suggestion of the Cuban Lady to take a right up another alley to see what was there. He is sure that he knows where he is going [Unnhhh-Hunnhhh….. Right!!!]
Well…. it’s not down this way he decides…. But at Illy’s urging, he investigates a brightly lit doorway up the aforementioned alley and of course discovers… “La Colina de Almanzora”.

We then climb the steep stairs inside the entrance, down a narrow hallway, hang a right past the kitchen and left into a cute balcony overlooking a cute courtyard and some type of gathering place below. [We later found out that it was the Arab baths and Tea room on the ground floor and mezzanine below the restaurant]… they do make interesting use of every inch of interior space around here.

The meal, and wine’s were delightful as were the interesting deserts. Soooo….Chuckie just had to ask the association of the chef and was told that he had no intention of leaving Granada. Of course, not taking this for an answer, on the way out, encountering the chef at the bar with another nice fellow, our erstwhile recruiter proceeds recruit him on the spot. [Little does he know at the time, that the slightly unkempt fellow with the chef is the Director [General Manager]. After a great pitch and lengthy spiel explaining the opportunity, the other guy pipes up and asks…”Tienes usted una posicion para Directores tambien?” [Got any jobs for Managers too] That’s when Chuckie realizes that he had just propositioned the Chef in front of his current boss….[Ooopppsss] but without skipping a beat he asks for this fellow’s Curriculum Vitae as well! He gets business cards around, leaves his card with the correct E-Mail address for them to send resumes to. After asking what was going on downstairs and being told about the Steam Baths and tea room [it really sounded like a tavern with all the music], we bid them a found farewell and were off to inspect the baths before heading out for a quick round about the area and heading back to the hotel.
We discovered the Telefonicas internet office around the corner from the hotel and were able to send the first notes on Seville.